PopHorror Retrospective - 1 Year and 100 Articles

It was a little more than a year ago I started writing for PopHorror.com. It was August 29, 2016. I know because my first piece for the site was a happy birthday article for William Friedkin's 81st. Here we are, 13 months and 100 articles later and I'm still having a blast writing about one of my favorite subjects: HORROR.

Looking back on those 100 articles, here are 8 of my favorites. If you haven't read them yet, please do and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your feedback.

8. Kathy Bates Receives Hollywood Walk of Fame Star - Most of my early articles were birthday wishes. This was the first article I wrote that had a little more meat to it. It was fun finding all of the quotes and images and recapping Kathy Bates's illustrious career.

7. Wes Craven's DEADLY FRIEND Turns 30! - Another fun article to research. It gave me the chance to re-acquire and re-watch the film for the first time in years. I learned a lot about the movie and its development. It's a little heftier than the average piece I write, too. I like how it turned out.

6. Saying Goodbye To An Icon: Bill Paxton Dead At 61 - This was a rough one. I'm still in shock. I had a Bill Paxton movie marathon the same day I wrote this one. He was loved. He is missed.

5. Lee Majors To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award - I'm a big fan of Lee Majors from THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN to THE FALL GUY to SCROOGED to ASH vs. EVIL DEAD. Writing this article allowed me to reach out to Lee Majors fans all over on Facebook. Of all the articles I've written, I think this one got the biggest public response.

4. 10 Fun Facts About BUG On Its 10th Anniversary - BUG is a great movie. This was a lot of fun to write. I feel like the article didn't get a lot of exposure when I wrote it because there was no real way to hashtag it or promote it effectively on Social Media. That's a shame. It's one of the best articles I've written so far. Go read it!

3. Watch EVIL DEAD 2 In The Woods With Bruce Campbell - I'm not really a fan of my own writing, but I feel like "Who’s up for a road trip to Austin? All we need are $55.00 tickets and some extra gas for the chainsaw!" is one of my better one (two) liners. Plus I'm a huge fan of Bruce and Evil Dead 2. If I still lived in Houston, I would have made the road trip for this. I wrote this article in record time, too, for a slow news day. When I finished it I realized "Hey, I'm getting pretty good at this."

2. Celebrating 35 Years of John Carpenter's THE THING - John Carpenter's THE THING is my favorite movie of all time. I never pass up a chance to talk about or write about it (or blog about it). I'm glad I got the opportunity to write this one for its 35th anniversary milestone.

1. Meet Our Writers: Kenn Hoekstra - I haven't been interviewed since I was a game developer, so it was fun to do one again. I got to answer some fun questions about movies and horror. Everyone should interview themselves if they get the chance. It's therapeutic.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully I blog again before I hit my PopHorror 2 year, 200 article milestone! :)

Celebrating 35 Years Of John Carpenter's THE THING

The weekend box office chart 35 years ago was pretty amazing. You had Blade Runner, John Carpenter's The Thing, and MegaForce debuting on a weekend when E.T., Poltergeist, Rocky III, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Conan The Barbarian were already out in theaters. I mean look at this! Amazing!

I was 8 or 9 in 1982 (depending on the time of year). I saw a few of these in the theater (back when it was $1.00 or $1.25 to see a movie). I definitely saw Rocky III,, Star Trek II, E.T., and Poltergeist that year. I also remember Secret of Nimh, Dark Crystal, and Tron. The first movie I remember seeing in the theater was Empire Strikes Back in 1980. I also remember Superman 2 in 1981, but I think my theater going ways started in earnest in 1982.

I was too young to see John Carpenter's THE THING in theaters, but I saw it on HBO not long after. What a life changer. It's my favorite horror film of all time. It may even be my favorite movie of all time. It's so good. I took the opportunity to write about it for PopHorror. Check out my 35th anniversary retrospective of The Thing right here.

I watched it over the weekend. It still holds up. I'm looking forward to the next 35 years!

I've written quite a few articles for PopHorror over the past few months. If you're bored and want to check them out, you can do so here.

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Thorsday Thoughts - TV Time, Horror Writing, The Thing and The Return of the "VS." Movie!

Happy Thorsday!

How goes it, true believers? This just in: I watch too much television. I was behind before, but now that Fall is here, there are new seasons of THE FLASH, SUPERGIRL, AMERICAN HORROR STORY and MARVEL'S AGENTS OF SHIELD to contend with. Oh, and a little series called WESTWORLD. And THE WALKING DEAD is due back any day now! How am I ever going to get around to GAME OF THRONES at this rate?  First world problems, for sure.

My horror writing continues.  My latest Pop Horror articles include:

* Kathy Bates Receives Hollywood Walk of Fame Star
* It's Stephen King's Birthday! Celebrate With A Netflix Binge!
* New Friday The 13th Delayed (Again) At Paramount
* Sheri Moon Zombie Turns 46!
* SyFy's 31 Days of Halloween Schedule Announced
* Adrienne Barbeau To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
* Wes Craven's Deadly Friend Turns 30!
* Donald Trump PhotoShopped Into Classic Horror Movies!

Fun stuff!  You should bookmark PopHorror.com and visit frequently. They have some great writers over there and new horror news and features every day!

I ordered a copy of the Shout Factory Collector's Edition of my favorite movie of all time: John Carpenter's THE THING!

I'm so excited! It will be in hand in time for Halloween. I think it deserves a special screening on my new(ish) 4K HDTV! The special features are amazing and I hear the audio has never sounded better. A new Blu-ray Special Edition of WAXWORK and WAXWORK II is also coming out this month. It's a bit pricey, but I think it will make a great birthday present...for myself!  :)

I saw this meme floating around and it really got me thinking...

Let's bring back the vs. movies!  FREDDY VS. JASON was fun!  BRIAN MILLS VS. MICHAEL MYERS sounds amazing!  How about after JOHN WICK 2 we get JOHN WICK VS. JASON VOORHEES?  Seriously, I'd pay big money for that!  JASON BOURNE VS. FREDDY KRUEGER?  JACK REACHER VS. LEATHERFACE?  These movies write themselves!

That's all for now.  Happy Halloween (if I don't post before then)!

John Carpenter's THE THING Turns 30!

"I know you gentlemen have been through a lot.  But when you find the time...I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!" ~Garry

Happy birthday to John Carpenter's horror masterpiece THE THING, which debuted 30 years ago today (June 25th, 1982)!  It's in my Top 5 movies of all time and some days it's even number 1, despite the lukewarm 2 1/2 star review Roger Ebert gave it when it came out...

I know there's at least one other guy who loves this movie as much as I do, and that's THIS GUY...the guy who made this awesome stop motion tribute to the film using G.I. Joe figures:



If you haven't seen this movie, you need to see it!  If it's been more than a year since you've seen it, you need to see it again...

Happy 30th birthday to one damned amazing film! In another 30 years I have no doubt it will still be just as awesome...